StargateNow Drive To Revive: Rules! Times! GIFs!

If you’re any kind of science fiction fan who spends any time on Twitter, there’s a good bet you’ve seen the #StargateNow hashtag pop up. Maybe you’ve seen it constantly flying by thanks to an insanely enthusiastic fan base. And maybe you’re part of that fan base. Good, because this post is for you.

This post is for all the people who are following, or plan to follow, @StargateNow. In addition, the absolute best resource for information outside of the Twitter account is Joseph Mallozzi’s blog, which I highly recommend following or at least checking frequently. Naturally I hope everyone reading this follows, participates, and gets all their friends (and so on) in on the action.

Image by Kelli Zielinski (Twitter @KelliMZielinski)

MGM is listening and apparently very interested in bringing back Stargate; we want to let them know we’d like original creators Brad Wright and Robert Cooper to be behind it. So we’re going to make some noise Friday, March 9 with a rehearsal drive on Friday, March 2. Repeat performances will be each following Saturday for international fans. Nobody gets left behind or loses sleep, unless they want to. (Details on times can be found further down in this post.)

But before we lock all the chevrons and jump headlong into the event horizon, there are a very few, but very important rules we’ll all need to follow during the tweet-storms. “Why are you ruining the fun with all these rules?” you might ask?

tl;dr – Because Twitter.

Full explanation – Twitter’s analytics are only effective if our tweets follow a certain format and are tweeted during a specific time. Here’s a bullet-point graphic we’ll be tweeting out everywhere and you’re welcome to download and tweet it as well. (Click image for a larger version)

If you’re a visual learner, @StargateNow has a short video tutorial on just how to set everything so you trend the best. It’s a handy, easy step-by-step visual guide to just what needs to be done. Each “slide” is only about 3 seconds long, so you’ll have to pause it on each one, but it’s something you’d need to do anyway. Check it out and, no, it doesn’t have sound. It doesn’t need sound!

It’s not really complicated, it’s just a few things to keep in mind so your tweets are counted. We want MGM to really hear us and we want every tweet you send to hit the mark. Following these rules will give you all the tools you need to hit that sweet spot and skyrocket the numbers.

And if you like numbers, check out the stats for the @StargateNow twitter account. Keep in mind these stats are from a new account that’s only 7 1/2 days old. Stargate fans are amazing! Just imagine what it’s going to be like after our Drive To Revive Stargate. And I’ll say it again, please follow @StargateNow and join in the fun!

A bit further down will be a more detailed explanation of the rules, but first we need to know the times (Click images to enlarge):

We’ve also got lots of GIFs and other images for you to use in your Stargate-related tweets. You can either click here or click on the GIF of Homer before he backs into the Stargate. Help yourself to this all-you-can-tweet buffet.

Now here’s that promised set of rules that give more detail. Definitely worth the read as it clarifies most of those seven rules above.

We’ll have some tutorials on what we are looking for in a tweet.

If you have a private account, during the tweetstorms you must make the account public or they won’t count.

Go to your profile page and put in a location. You don’t have to get it down to the town and state. Even just the country is fine and then save it. You can remove it after the events if you don’t want it there.

Fifteen min before the time we start, we will put out the hashtag in a graphic (because we don’t want to tweet this in a tweet and/or start prematurely).

DO NOT USE THIS HASHTAG UNTIL THE TOP OF THE HOUR WHERE YOU LIVE. If we release it at 7:45 in your time zone for example, do not use it until 8 sharp or until you see us say “GO” on the account.

Only ONE hashtag in a tweet–the one we ask you to use. If you decide to use more than one, your tweet will not count in their trending algorithm. Just type out the other things you usually hashtag during a non-trend event.

UPDATE: Please include @MGM_Studios and @stargatecommand in your tweets for March 9/10. You can just put them in at the end of your tweet, but this is the best way for them to hear us!

Example of a tweet that will trend: My favorite character in Stargate is Carter. She inspired me to go into science. #TheHashtagWeGiveYou @MGM_Studios @stargatecommand

Example of a tweet that will not trend (and may hurt the trend curve): My favorite character in #Stargate is Carter. She inspired me to go into science. #TheHashtagWeGiveYou (b/c there are 2 hashtags in one tweet).

Pictures and GIFs are weighed more heavily in the algorithm. You can download GIFs on the Google drive we have and plan out what you might say on your tweets and what GIF/picture you might use.

You don’t HAVE to use GIFs of the show. If you want to use the GIFs that are in Twitter because it is quicker, you can use those. We’ll give you an example in the tutorial.

PLEASE don’t put any hashtags in images you include in your tweets. They won’t count toward trending and can confuse others about which hashtag to use.

When you retweet someone else’s tweet, do not add a comment to it (the “quote tweet” function). Just point and click “retweet.”

Replying to a tweet is fine, but it will only count in trending if you use the given hashtag.

Try to limit your comments to short comments. The last time we used this Twitter model we were still only at 140 characters; we aren’t sure what 280 characters will do to the trend curve.

We won’t control what you want to say (just ask that you use the assigned hashtag and ONLY that hashtag). Sometimes if we see the tweets lagging we might give suggestions on what you should tweet about. If you want to just talk about how you feel about the show that’s great. Maximize your tweets–put one sentence per tweet to get your tweet count up.

If you tweet a lot you may get locked out of your account. It is what people refer to as Twitter jail. People on DarkMatterFTL tweeters felt like it was a badge of honor. Sometimes it is only 10-15 minutes and sometimes it is an hour for the first offense. Some people create a backup Twitter account to use just in case that happens.

We’ll give you examples of tweets of how to tweet using GIFs if you are new to Twitter.

During the tweet event we will open the direct messaging to all in case you have a problem in some way that you need help. You do not need to let us know you are in Twitter jail. If you have a question that needs clarification or are new to Twitter and need a little extra help on what to do, things like that would be most appropriate to ask.

The biggest directive of all is to HAVE FUN!!!! Tweet like you have never tweeted before. Stargate is counting on you.

So there you have it. All the rules, all the times, all the GIFs! If you’re still wondering why all the rules, please check out our past post from the Dark Matter FTL drive back in September, 2017 (My how the time flies!). The very same rules and the very same reasons still apply here. It’s a formula that has evolved from multiple similar campaigns and is proven to work, so we’re sticking with it.

And a friendly reminder again to please follow @StargateNow on Twitter for real-time updates, information, artwork, and just plain fun. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings one bit if you even followed me (@Thogar). I’m a big, old nerd who dearly loves Stargate, silliness, and anything scifi.

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Remember: Tweet-storm rehearsal Friday/Saturday March 2/3 and the real deal Friday/Saturday, March 9/10!

Senior Editor for Three If By Space. Tom first became interested in science fiction & science as a very young child thanks to his parents. His earliest memories of enjoying scifi were sitting with his dad watching first-run episodes of the original Star Trek. Although a fan of nearly all forms of scripted television, Tom’s preferences skew heavily toward hard science fiction.